Only four teams in the league are taking fewer offensive snaps per game than the Chargers. Yet only four teams are gaining more yards per game.

There is good and bad to be seen in that. No team – especially not one with Super Bowl aspirations – is happy with its offense not being on the field enough.

Big plays are exciting, but it's a dangerous way to live and impossible to count on.

“Obviously, we are doing a lot of things good,” quarterback Philip Rivers said. “We need to continue to keep the running game going. We busted a couple, but we really have to bust some really long ones. That takes time and patience.”

Rivers swears the day is coming when the Chargers will run the ball 40 times a game, by necessity or logic.

That day has not yet arrived and does not appear to be at hand.

Not with this offense, not with a quarterback dealing like he is, not with a tailback's toe not quite right and defenses still playing to stop him.

The Chargers have won nine straight games over the Raiders and done it with a large dose of LaDainian Tomlinson. To hear the Chargers tell it, LT could be his old self as soon as Sunday against Oakland.

Or he could carry 25 times largely as a protector of the ball and as a way to set up a passing offense that is raining yards even with relatively few chances.

Rivers won the FedEx Air Player of the Week award for his 250 yards and three touchdown passes against the Jets this past Monday. He should be named that company's player of the month for his deft distribution of packages.

Against the Jets, he fit eight different receivers into his 19 completions.

Those eight players have all caught at least three passes this season. Seven of them have caught four. Only a handful of other teams have been that equitable and none as productively.

“We've got a lot of good players,” said Antonio Gates, who has led the Chargers in receptions four straight seasons. “The difference now is that everybody has bought into understanding it ain't going to be you every week.”

The Chargers rank fifth in the league in passing yards, yet they have no player in the top 35 in receptions. Vincent Jackson's 12 catches rank 36th.

But Rivers is averaging 14.8 yards per completion, slightly less than Atlanta's Matt Ryan but with 21 more completions. Jackson's 64.7 yards per game rank 18th. Jackson (four), Chris Chambers (three), Gates (two) and Darren Sproles (two) have combined for 11 pass plays of 20 yards or more. The Chargers' 13 plays of at least 20 yards tie Dallas for most in the league.

The plays the team's stars are making are important.

Rivers has thrown fewer passes than any of the quarterbacks with more yards, but he leads the league with nine touchdowns.